Best movies like The Padilla Affair

A unique, carefully handpicked, selection of the best movies like The Padilla Affair Starring Heberto Padilla, Fidel Castro, Gabriel García Márquez, Julio Cortázar, and more. If you liked The Padilla Affair then you may also like: The War on Democracy, Wasp Network, Wilson, Naqoyqatsi, Neruda and many more popular movies featured on this list. You can further filter the list even more or get a random selection from the list of similar movies, to make your selection even easier.

Havana, spring 1971: The poet Heberto Padilla has just been set free and appears before the Cuban Writers' Union where he pronounces a statement of "heartfelt self-criticism", declares himself to be a counterrevolutionary agent and throws accusations of complicity at many of his colleagues present at the event, among them, his wife. A month previously, his arrest under the accusation of endangering the security of the Cuban state had mobilised prominent intellectuals all over the world, who wrote a letter to Fidel Castro calling for the release of the poet, whose only sin had been to dissent through his poetic work. The writer's mea culpa, the recording of which is shown for the first time to the public, marks the narrative line of a story including the testimonies of Gabriel García Márquez, Julio Cortázar, Mario Vargas Llosa, Jean-Paul Sartre, Jorge Edwards and Fidel Castro.

selected filters: Sort: Default

You may filter the list of movies on this page for a more refined, personalized selection of movies.

Still not sure what to watch click the recommend buttun below to get a movie recommendation selected from all the movies on this list

Know any good movies to watch like The Padilla Affair 2022. With a similar plot or stoyline. Suggest it.

The War on Democracy

Set both in Latin America and the United States, the film explores the historic and current relationship of Washington with countries such as Venezuela, Bolivia and Chile. Pilger says that the film "...tells a universal story... analysing and revealing, through vivid testimony, the story of great power behind its venerable myths. It allows us to understand the true nature of the so-called "war on terror". According to Pilger, the film’s message is that the greed and power of empire is not invincible and that people power is always the "seed beneath the snow".

Wasp Network

Havana, Cuba, 1990. René González, an airplane pilot, unexpectedly flees the country, leaving behind his wife Olga and his daughter Irma, and begins a new life in Miami, where he becomes a member of an anti-Castro organization.

Wilson

Middle-aged and divorced, Wilson finds himself lonely, smug, and obsessed with his past.

Naqoyqatsi

A visual montage portrait of our contemporary world dominated by globalized technology and violence.

Neruda

It’s 1948 and the Cold War has arrived in Chile. In the Congress, prominent Communist Senator and popular poet Pablo Neruda accuses the government of betraying the Party and is stripped of his parliamentary immunity by President González Videla. The Chief of Investigative Police instructs inspector Óscar Peluchonneau to arrest the poet. Neruda tries to escape from the country with his wife, the painter Delia del Carril, but they are forced to go underground.

Now You See Me

An FBI agent and an Interpol detective track a team of illusionists who pull off bank heists during their performances and reward their audiences with the money.

Queens

In Spain, a couple of days before a collective gay wedding, the lives of five mothers, whose sons will get married, are entwined: Judge Helena is in charge of the ceremony; the entrepreneur in hotel business Magda is hosting the guests in her hotel and is responsible for the banquet, while facing a strike leaded by her lover and chef; the nymphomaniac Nuria is facing problems due to her disease; the wealthy Reyes is having a crush for the father of her son's mate and her gardener; and the Argentinean cooker Ofelia is facing financial problems and difficulties in with her son's mate. Along three days, they have complicated relationships with their sons and mates, ex-husbands, lovers and employees.

José & Pilar

A deeply moving story about love, loss and literature, this documentary follows the days of José Saramago, the Nobel-laureate Portuguese novelist, and his wife, Pilar del Río. The film shows their whirlwind life of international travel, his passion for completing his masterpiece "The Elephant's Journey", and how their love quietly sustains them throughout.

Before Night Falls

Spanning several decades, this powerful biopic offers a glimpse into the life of famed Cuban poet and novelist Reinaldo Arenas, an artist who was vilified for his homosexuality in Fidel Castro's Cuba.

Buena Vista Social Club

In this fascinating Oscar-nominated documentary, American guitarist Ry Cooder brings together a group of legendary Cuban folk musicians (some in their 90s) to record a Grammy-winning CD in their native city of Havana. The result is a spectacular compilation of concert footage from the group's gigs in Amsterdam and New York City's famed Carnegie Hall, with director Wim Wenders capturing not only the music -- but also the musicians' life stories.

Fidel: The Untold Story

Documentary about Fidel Castro, covering 40 years of Cuban Revolution. Rare Fidel Castro footage: he appears swimming with a bodyguard, visiting his childhood home and school, playing with his friend Nelson Mandela, meeting kid Elián Gonzalez, and celebrating his birthday with the Buena Vista Social Club group.

Habana Eva

In a Havana, shaken by Fidel's retirement, a young seamstress, trapped in a sweatshop job, dreams of designing beautiful dresses. Frustrated by her lazy, though adorable Cuban boyfriend, she meets a sophisticated ex-patriot Cuban-Venezuelan who dazzles her with a glamorous future. After many deceptions and surprises, Eva has to choose between the two men she loves. Hers is an unexpected decision... a humorous metaphor of Cuba's options for the future

Bukowski at Bellevue

In the spring of 1970 Charles Bukowski took his first plane trip for a poetry reading at Bellevue Community College in Washington state. That he was videotaped by two students apparently was later forgotten, but the tapes were recently rediscovered and have been released by Black Sparrow press. "Bukowski at Bellevue" gives us a fascinating glimpse of the man before he had to be concerned with how celebrity and financial security were affecting him. (It is said that this was only his fourth public reading.) This is Bukowski, then about 50, taken straight. No games, no irony, no self-consciousness--just an ordinary-looking guy, maybe hung over, sitting before a small group of students reading his work with gusto, humor and sensitivity. A man who clearly had lived the marginal life he wrote about with passion and at times a lyrical, even mystical beauty.

The Lost City

In Havana, Cuba in the late 1950's, a wealthy family, one of whose sons is a prominent nightclub owner, is caught in the violent transition from the oppressive regime of Batista to the Marxist government of Fidel Castro. Castro's regime ultimately leads the nightclub owner to flee to New York.

Viva

Jesús, a young hairdresser, works at a Havana nightclub for drag performers and dreams of being a performer himself. Encouraged by his mentor, Mama, Jesús finally gets his chance to take the stage. But when Angel, his estranged father recently released from a 15-year stint in prison, abruptly reenters his life, his world is quickly turned upside down. The macho Angel tries to squash his son’s ambition to perform in drag. Father and son clash over their opposing expectations of each other, struggling to understand one another and reconcile as a family. Shot in a gritty neighborhood far from the Havana most tourists know, Viva is a heartrending story of music, performance, and survival.

Che!

Biography of Argentinian revolutionary Ernesto "Che" Guevara, who helped Fidel Castro in his struggle against the corrupt Batista regime, eventually resulting in the overthrow of that government and Castro's taking over of Cuba. The film covers Guevara's life from when he first landed in Cuba in 1956 to his death in an ambush by government troops in the mountains of Bolivia in 1967.

Brave are the Fallen

Captain Thomas Wall was a firefighter and a hero. This heartfelt and inspiring documentary chronicles Tom's life, and his untimely death while battling an inferno.

The Fall of '55

In late 1955 and early 1956, the citizens of Boise, Idaho believed there was a menace in their midst. On Halloween, investigators arrested three men on charges of having sex with teenage boys. The investigators claimed the arrests were just the tip of the iceberg-they said hundreds of boys were being abused as part of a child sex ring. There was no such ring, but the result was a widespread investigation which some people consider a witch hunt. By the time the investigation ended, 16 men were charged. Countless other lives were also touched.In some cases, men implicated fled the area. At least one actually left the country. The investigation attracted attention in newspapers across the nation, including Time Magazine. The "Morals Drive" left scars which remain to this day.

Pier 5, Havana

A Yank comes to Havana in search of an old friend who disappeared during the Cuban Revolution, and discovers a group of Batista sympathizers plotting to overturn Castro.

Broadmoor: Serial Killers & High Security

A rare insight into the workings of the high-security psychiatric hospital, Broadmoor, with testimony from those who have come face to face with Britain’s most notorious killers. Broadmoor Hospital is home to around 200 of Britain’s most dangerous men, and this documentary offers a glimpse of what life is like behind bars for some of its most famous inhabitants, including Peter Sutcliffe and Robert Maudsley.

The Secret KGB JFK Assassination Files

On Nov. 22, 1963 the world was shocked by the assassination of John F. Kennedy. The mystery surrounding this history-changing event has led to many unanswered questions.

Flowers From Another World

Patricia, a woman from Dominican Republic, needs a home and an economic security that her illegal status in Madrid does not provide her. Milady, twenty, born in Havana and dying to travel the world. Marirosi has a job, a home, and the most complete solitude... just like Alfonso, Damián and Carmelo, men from the St. Eulalia, a village lacking both marrying women and future. A bachelors' party forces the encounter between them and the beginning of this bittersweet story of sharing a living.

Cuba libre

An outrageous comedy about a group of radical anarchist squatters who inadvertently overtake the Cuban Embassy in Madrid at the very same time that Fidel Castro announces Cuba's first democratic elections.

The Buddha

This documentary for PBS by award-winning filmmaker David Grubin and narrated by Richard Gere, tells the story of the Buddha’s life, a journey especially relevant to our own bewildering times of violent change and spiritual confusion. It features the work of some of the world’s greatest artists and sculptors, who across two millennia, have depicted the Buddha’s life in art rich in beauty and complexity. Hear insights into the ancient narrative by contemporary Buddhists, including Pulitzer Prize winning poet W.S. Merwin and His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Join the conversation and learn more about meditation, the history of Buddhism, and how to incorporate the Buddha’s teachings on compassion and mindfulness into daily life.

Finding Fidel: The Journey of Erik Durschmied

Finding Fidel tells the remarkable story of war cameraman Erik Durschmied, who in 1958 journeyed to Cuba's Sierra Maestra mountains to interview a little-known rebel leader named Fidel Castro. A month later, Castro's band of fighters rolled into Havana, and the world would never be the same. Finding Fidel follows Durschmied as he returns to Cuba on the 50th Anniversary of the Revolution, retracing his original route to the mountains after an ailing Fidel has handed power over to his brother Raul and the island is waiting for change.

7 Days in Havana

A young American boy is trying to break into the acting business, and goes to Cuba during a film festival.

A Forbidden God

August 1936, the beginning of the Spanish Civil War. 51 members of the Claretian community of Barbastro (Huesca) are martyred, die for their faith. The film recounts the last weeks of his life, since they are held until they are finally shot. During that time, they perform various writings they talk about their situation, of his fellow captives, people who saw them. These writings have been the basic testimony used to narrate this real fact in film version.

My Little Assassin

1981: Marita Lorenz checks into an Havana hotel and, in a flashback, remembers 22 years' before. At 19, visiting Cuba from New York, she comes to the attention of Fidel Castro, the country's rebel president. He invites her to be his secretary and to be part of the making of the new Cuba. She accepts, but soon learns he already has a capable secretary; Marita's duties lie elsewhere. She becomes pregnant. She's also come to the attention of the FBI and the CIA, so when she wakes up in a US hospital after what may have been a botched abortion against her will in Cuba, her government presses her into service as an assassin: her job, to go back to Cuba and kill her former lover.

Holy Terrors

The Welsh writer Arthur Machen wrote many acclaimed stories of the supernatural which brought him great fame in the 1920s. His work has faded from view in the decades since leaving just a dedicated following including Stephen King and Mick Jagger. Holy Terrors is a new film aiming to bring Machen to a new audience and adapts six of his tales into a spine-tingling portmanteau film. Effectively capturing the unique atmosphere and feel of Machen’s writing, Holy Terrors is sure to provide a night or two of uneasy sleep for the viewer.

Clandestine Stories in Havana

Argentine 40-year-old Laura, visiting Cuba for the first time on business, is divorcing her husband back in Buenos Aires. She's soon involved with smooth-talking cab driver Frank. Garment manufacturer Francisco, having lost his wife, children, and home, has traveled to Cuba to kill himself, but Frank's mother realizes that Francisco is the teenage lover who got her pregnant. In other relationships, a gay couple argue over whether or not to remain in the closet, and two documentary filmmakers have career conflicts.

Mea Culpa

A criminal defense attorney must choose between family, duty and her own dangerous desires when she takes on the case of an artist accused of murder.

Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God

Academy Award®–winning documentary filmmaker Alex Gibney (Taxi to the Dark Side) explores the charged issue of pedophilia in the Catholic Church, following a trail from the first known protest against clerical sexual abuse in the United States and all way to the Vatican.

The Day the Music Died: The Story of Don McLean's "American Pie"

With a narrative running deeper than a catchy tune and cryptic verses, “American Pie” is a musical phenomenon woven deep into the history of American culture, entertaining audiences around the world for over 50 years. This documentary tells the stories of the people who were a part of this moment from the beginning, shows the point of view of a new generation of artists who are motivated by the same values and ideas that inspired the song’s creation, and highlights cultural moments in America’s history that are as relevant now as they were in 1971, when the song was released.

More custom members lists

Sort results by:

X close
Default
Clear filters
...